Asked by Nico

What does the thermal energy of matter depend upon?

a
Number of particles, only
b
Mass, number of particles and temperature
c
Temperature, only
d
Mass, only

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
b

Thermal energy (internal energy) is the sum of the microscopic kinetic (and some potential) energies of the particles. It therefore depends on how many particles (or equivalently the mass for a given substance), the temperature (which sets the average energy per particle), and the nature of the substance (specific heat). For example, U = (3/2)NkT for an ideal monatomic gas or U = mcT for a bulk material.